1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer with an ink cartridge attached thereto that carries out printing by the unit of dots, as well as to an ink cartridge detachably attached to a main body of the printer. More specifically the invention pertains to a technique of storing information into the ink cartridge.
2. Description of the Related Art
The printing apparatus like the ink jet printer and the ink jet plotter mainly includes an ink cartridge, in which one or plural inks are kept, and a printer main body with a print head to carry out actual printing operations on a printing medium. The print head transfers ink fed from the ink cartridge onto the printing medium, such as printing paper, so as to implement printing on the printing medium. The ink cartridge is designed to be detachably attached to the printer main body. A new ink cartridge has a predetermined quantity of ink kept therein. When the ink kept in an ink cartridge runs out, the ink cartridge is replaced with a new one. Such a printing apparatus is arranged to cause the printer main body to calculate the remaining quantity of ink in the ink cartridge based on the amount of ink transferred from the print head and to inform the user of a state of running out of the ink, in order to prevent the printing procedure from being interrupted by the out-of-ink.
The data on the remaining quantities of inks are generally stored only in the printer main body or in a printer driver that controls the printer. In the event that a first ink cartridge is replaced with a second ink cartridge in the course of the printing operation, the information relating to the first ink cartridge, such as the data on the remaining quantities of inks, are thus lost or made wrong.
One proposed technique to solve this problem utilizes a non-volatile memory provided in the ink cartridge and causes the required data, for example, the data on the remaining quantities of inks, to be written from the printer main body into the non-volatile memory (for example, JAPANESE PATENT LAID-OPEN GAZETTE No. 62-184856). In the case of replacement of the ink cartridge during the printing operation, this technique ensures the storage of the data on the remaining quantities of inks.
The ink cartridge attached to the printer is expendable. A non-volatile memory generally used in the printer, for example, a large-sized, expensive non-volatile memory having a relatively large storage capacity of several kilobytes and more than ten terminals, is not applicable for the ink cartridge. Using such a non-volatile memory makes the ink cartridge undesirably bulky and increases the manufacturing cost of the expendable ink cartridge, which is abandoned after the ink kept in the ink cartridge runs out.
One proposed technique accordingly applies a small-sized special non-volatile memory having a relatively small storage capacity for the ink cartridge. The non-volatile memory with only several terminals adopts a specific format of addressing, which is different from the format of addressing adopted in the general non-volatile memories. This accordingly arises another problem of difficulty in handling.
In the case where the different addressing format is adopted, the computer that controls the writing operation of data may carry out conversion of the addressing format. In the case of an ink cartridge having an ink reservoir, in which a plurality of different inks are kept, and information is require to be held, such as pieces of information on the amounts of ink consumption, independently with regard to each of the respective inks, however, relatively long data lengths need to be written and the address conversion may take an undesirably long time. Such a disadvantage is not negligible since it may cause all the data to be not rewritten when an insufficient time period is provided for the address conversion, for example, at the time of a forcible cut-off of a power supply.
The problems discussed above arise in any printing apparatus that does not directly measure the remaining quantity of ink or the amount of ink consumption in an ink cartridge but causes the printer to compute such data, and in an ink cartridge attached thereto. Such printing apparatus includes an ink jet-type printing apparatus that uses ink obtained by mixing or dissolving a pigment or a dye with or in a solvent and transfers ink droplets in the liquid state to implement printing, a printing apparatus that uses an ink cartridge with an ink toner accommodated therein, and a thermal transfer-type printing apparatus.
The object of the present invention is thus to provide a technique that is applicable to a printer and, a cartridge attached thereto and enables information relating to the cartridge, such as pieces of information on remaining quantities of inks, to be adequately processed, while not increasing the manufacturing cost of the cartridge.
At least part of the above and the other related objects is actualized by a first printer, to which a cartridge is detachably attached, wherein the cartridge keeps ink therein and has a rewritable non-volatile memory. The first printer causes the ink kept in the cartridge to be transferred from a print head mounted on the printer to a printing medium, thereby implementing a printing operation. The first printer includes: a printer memory that stores information relating to the ink kept in the cartridge into a predetermined area thereof in a predetermined format of addressing, which is different from a specific format of addressing adopted in the non-volatile memory; a memory writing unit that reads the information relating to the ink kept in the cartridge from the predetermined area and writes the read-out information into a specific area of the non-volatile memory, which corresponds to the predetermined area of the printer memory; and an address decoder that converts a storage format of addressing of the information relating to the ink from the predetermined format of addressing into the specific format of addressing when the memory writing unit writes the information.
The present invention is also directed to a first method that corresponds to the first printer discussed above. The present invention thus provides a first method of writing information relating to ink kept in a cartridge into a rewritable non-volatile memory incorporated in the cartridge, which is detachably attached to a printer, wherein the printer causes the ink kept in the cartridge to be transferred from a print head mounted on the printer to a printing medium, thereby implementing a printing operation. The first method includes the steps of: storing the information relating to the ink kept in the cartridge into a predetermined area of a printer memory incorporated in the printer in a predetermined format of addressing, which is different from a specific format of addressing adopted in the non-volatile memory; reading the information relating to the ink kept in the cartridge from the predetermined area; converting a storage format of addressing of the information relating to the ink from the predetermined format of addressing into the specific format of addressing; and writing the information in the converted specific format of addressing into a specific area of the non-volatile memory, which corresponds to the predetermined area of the printer memory.
In the first printer and the corresponding first method of the present invention, the information relating to the ink kept in the cartridge is stored in different formats of addressing in the printer memory incorporated in the printer and in the non-volatile memory incorporated in the cartridge. The address decoder converts the storage format of addressing when the information is written into the non-volatile memory of the cartridge. This arrangement enables the information relating to the ink to be readily written into the non-volatile memory of the cartridge, even when the format of addressing adopted in the non-volatile memory is different from that adopted in the printer memory.
In the first printer of the present invention, in the case where the cartridge is detachably attached to a carriage that has the print head mounted thereon and moves forward and backward relative to the printing medium, the address decoder may also be disposed on the carriage. This arrangement shortens the distance between the address decoder and the cartridge. This is especially advantageous when there is a difficulty in extending the signal lines because of the specific format of addressing adopted in the non-volatile memory of the cartridge.
The present invention is further directed to a first cartridge that corresponds to the first printer discussed above. The present invention accordingly provides a first cartridge that keeps ink therein and is detachably attached to a printer with a print head, wherein the printer causes the ink kept in the cartridge to be transferred from the print head to a printing medium by a unit of dot, thereby implementing a printing operation. The first cartridge includes: a rewritable non-volatile memory; an input unit that receives information relating to ink kept in the cartridge, which has been stored in a predetermined format of addressing in a predetermined area of a printer memory incorporated in the printer, in a specific format of addressing that is different from the predetermined format of addressing; and a writing controller that writes the information into the non-volatile memory in the specific format of addressing received by the input unit.
In the first cartridge of the present invention, the information, which has been stored in a predetermined format of addressing in a predetermined area of the printer memory incorporated in the printer, is received in a specific format of addressing that is different from the predetermined format of addressing and written into the non-volatile memory. This means that the data are written into the non-volatile memory of the cartridge, irrespective of the format of addressing adopted in the printer memory. In a similar manner, the reading operation of data may be carried out in the specific format of addressing that is different from the format of addressing adopted in the printer memory.
In accordance with one preferable application of the present invention, the non-volatile memory of the cartridge carries out transmission of data by serial access, and the information is written into the non-volatile memory synchronously with a clock for addressing. The non-volatile memory of the serial access type generally has a reduced number of terminals and is small in size, thereby contributing to the size reduction of the whole cartridge.
The information written into the non-volatile memory is, for example, a piece of information relating to the quantity of ink in the cartridge. The piece of information relating to the quantity of ink may regard a remaining quantity of ink or an amount of ink consumption with respect to the cartridge.
In accordance with another preferable application of the present invention, a plurality of different inks are kept in the cartridge, and the address decoder carries out the conversion of the storage format of addressing corresponding to a plurality of areas provided for the respective inks in the non-volatile memory. In a color cartridge with three different colors, for example, cyan, magenta, and yellow, kept therein, this arrangement facilitates the storage of information with regard to the respective color inks. The same principle is applicable to another cartridge, in which at least five different inks are kept. In these cases, the storage capacity of not greater than 2 bytes is allocated to store a piece of information relating to the quantity of each ink. The allocation of the storage capacity of approximately 2 bytes to each ink enables the data to be written into the non-volatile memory of the cartridge within a short time period.
In accordance with still another preferable application of the present invention, the non-volatile memory of the cartridge has two information storage areas, in order to enhance the reliability of the stored information. In this structure, the address decoder alternately specifies one of two different addresses every time a requirement of writing information, which has been stored in one area of the printer memory, into the non-volatile memory is output. This arrangement causes the address decoder to specify the addresses and thereby reduces the loading to the printer main body.
The information may be written into the non-volatile memory of the cartridge after at least one of a timing when a power-off instruction is given to turn off a power source of the printer, a timing when power supply to the printer is cut off, and a timing when a replacement instruction is given to replace the cartridge. In this arrangement, the address decoder carries out the conversion of the storage format of addressing and writes the information having the converted format into the non-volatile memory after at least one of the above timings. Writing the information into the non-volatile memory of the cartridge at the above timings enables the reliability of information to be kept at a sufficient level. In the case where the cartridge is detached from the printer, this arrangement enables the latest data to be stored in the non-volatile memory of the cartridge. A cleaning operation is generally carried out in an ink jet printer, in order to prevent nozzles on the print head from being clogged. The cleaning operation consumes a preset amount of ink. It is accordingly desirable to update the information relating to the quantity of ink after each cleaning operation.
A programmable ROM that is erasable electrically, a flash ROM, or a ferroelectric memory may be applied for the non-volatile memory of the cartridge.
The present invention is also directed to a second printer, to which a cartridge is detachably attached, wherein the cartridge keeps ink therein and has a rewritable non-volatile memory. The second printer causes the ink kept in the cartridge to be transferred from a plurality of dot-forming elements, which are formed on a print head mounted on the printer, to a printing medium by a unit of dot, thereby implementing a printing operation. The second printer includes: a printer memory that stores information relating to the ink kept in the cartridge into a predetermined area thereof; a data registration unit that is disposed on a carriage, which has the print head mounted thereon and moves forward and backward relative to the printing medium, and temporarily registers therein the information relating to the ink, which is read from the predetermined area of the printer memory; and a memory writing unit that writes the information temporarily registered in the data registration unit into a specific area of the non-volatile memory, which corresponds to the predetermined area of the printer memory.
The present invention is also directed to a second method that corresponds to the second printer discussed above. The present invention thus provides a second method of writing information relating to ink kept in a cartridge into a rewritable non-volatile memory incorporated in the cartridge, which is detachably attached to a printer, wherein the printer causes the ink kept in the cartridge to be transferred from a plurality of dot-forming elements, which are formed on a print head mounted on the printer, to a printing medium by a unit of dot, thereby implementing a printing operation. The second method includes the steps of: storing the information relating to the ink kept in the cartridge into a predetermined area of a printer memory incorporated in the printer; temporarily storing the information relating to the ink, which is read from the predetermined area of the printer memory, into a temporary memory that is disposed on a carriage, which has the print head mounted thereon and moves forward and backward relative to the printing medium; and writing the information temporarily stored in the temporary memory into a specific area of the non-volatile memory, which corresponds to the predetermined area of the printer memory.
The present invention is further directed to a second cartridge that corresponds to the second printer discussed above. The present invention accordingly provides a second cartridge that keeps ink therein and is detachably attached to a carriage set on a printer, wherein the printer has a plurality of dot-forming elements formed on a print head mounted on the carriage that moves forward and backward relative to a printing medium. The printer causes the ink kept in the cartridge to be transferred from the plurality of dot-forming elements on the print head to the printing medium by a unit of dot, thereby implementing a printing operation. The second cartridge includes: a rewritable non-volatile memory; an input unit that receives information relating to ink kept in the cartridge, which has been stored in a predetermined format of addressing in a temporary memory mounted on the carriage for temporarily storing information, in a specific format of addressing that is different from the predetermined format of addressing; and a writing controller that writes the information into the non-volatile memory in the specific format of addressing received by the input unit.
In the second printer as well as the corresponding second method and the second cartridge of the present invention, the information relating to the ink kept in the cartridge is stored in a predetermined area of the printer memory. The information read from the predetermined area of the printer memory is temporarily registered in the temporary memory on the carriage and eventually written into the non-volatile memory of the cartridge. This arrangement does not require the time-consuming process of reading the respective pieces of information from the printer memory in response to each demand, but facilitates the writing operation of data into the non-volatile memory of the cartridge.
At least a partial area of a specific memory, in which data corresponding to a driving signal to the dot-forming elements formed on the print head are temporarily stored, may be utilized as the temporary memory. The print head mounted on the carriage may have such a memory, in which data corresponding to a driving signal to the dot-forming elements are temporarily stored. This simplifies the configuration of the storage process.
The information read from the printer memory may be registered into the temporary memory by utilizing the signal line, through which data corresponding to a driving signal to the dot-forming elements are output to the dot-forming elements. This simplifies the configuration of the storage process.
A common hardware configuration may be applicable for output of data to the dot-forming elements and for output of information to the non-volatile memory. In this case, one desirable structure has a mechanism of selecting either one of the output of data to the dot-forming elements and the output of information to the non-volatile memory. One concrete example of such structure cuts off the power supply to the non-volatile memory in the case of the output of data corresponding to a driving signal to the dot-forming elements.
In any one of the above applications, the information relating to the quantity of ink may regard a remaining quantity of ink or an amount of ink consumption with respect to the cartridge. The non-volatile memory may be a memory that carries out transmission of data by serial access, for example, a programmable ROM that is erasable electrically, a flash ROM, or a ferroelectric memory.
The structure of incorporating the non-volatile memory in the cartridge is applicable to any type of the cartridge. For example, in the case where both a black cartridge, in which black ink is kept, and a color cartridge, in which a plurality of different color inks are kept, are detachably attached to the printer, the non-volatile memory is provided in both the black cartridge and the color cartridge, and required pieces of information are written into the respective non-volatile memories. The configuration that provides a non-volatile memory for each cartridge enables the data on the quantity of ink with regard to each cartridge to be processed independently. The principle of the present invention is also applicable to a printer, to which only a black cartridge or a color cartridge is detachably attached.
These and other objects, features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment with the accompanying drawings.